At the meeting of the UEG executive committee held in Madrid, the organisation of the election congress 2009 was attributed to the federation of Israel. The various meetings and the general assembly will take place in Tel Aviv.

IraelThe presidential board held a two-days meeting followed by the meeting of the cxecutive committee in Madrid. It is with a great kindness and a lot of attention that the UEG authorities were received by the Royal Spanish Federation of Gymnastics, chaired by Antonio Esteban.

During its meeting, the presidential board made a brief retrospective of the four European Championships in the Olympic disciplines that took place during spring. In general the results are very positive; on the level of sport as well as on the organisational level. In addition, several participation records were beaten. Everyone is now hoping that the European gymnasts will carry out top performances during the Olympic Games in Beijing.

In the presence of Gianfranco Marzolla, president of the men’s technical committee (MTC), an important part of the meeting was devoted to men’s artistic gymnastics (MAG), its development and competition formats. In a presentation based on analyses and statistics conducted over several years, Gianfranco Marzolla explained the current situation of MAG, its future needs and its development in general. This presentation was followed by a very thorough and fruitful general discussion.

The presidential board then prepared the meeting of the executive committee and the many items on its agenda, including finances, training camps, Youth Olympic Games, event calendar 2009-2012 etc.

The congress 2009 attributed to Israel

At the Executive Committee meeting held on Friday and Saturday, several decisions were taken:

- Three federations had submitted a candidacy. The representatives of Denmark, Hungary and Israel came to present their candidacy to the executive committee. After two ballots, the election congress 2009 was attributed to Israel, which had already been a candidate for the congress in 2005. The general assembly will take place November 7th and 8th 2009 in Tel Aviv.

- In view of the congress in 2009 a revision of the UEG Statutes will be proposed. On one hand to integrate, if necessary, decisions that may be taken at the FIG congress 2008 and secondly to make some adjustments. The UEG statutes commission will meet on December 8th, 2008.

- Regarding the Youth Olympic Games (YOG 2010), the executive committee, on proposition of the presidential board, will submit two proposals to the FIG:

a) qualifications in artistic gymnastics: the UEG will not change the format of its junior European Championships in MAG 2009. The age groups 15 to 18 will be maintained and a qualification for the age groups 16-17 (official age of the YOG) will be integrated. In WAG the age groups are corresponding. These championships will be held end of April / beginning of May 2010 in Birmingham / GBR.

b) In RG, the 2009 European Championships remain unchanged. The ECh 2010 that are awarded to Germany,will in principle be anticipated to March. The competition format remains the same, with the integration of a competition for groups and individual wishing to try to get selected (1 single group and 8 individuals can qualify to represent Europe).

- After LONGINES's decision not to renew its partnership with the UEG from 2009 on, the result service (Scoring system) will still be guaranteed by Swiss Timing for the ECh MAG, WAG and RG 2009, because of the contractual agreements signed with the organizers. The UEG will seek solutions to ensure the funding for these services. Meanwhile the UEG started negotiations with several specialized companies.

- UEG medical commission: tasks and responsibilities of the official UEG doctor were clearly defined and will from now on be integrated in the manifestation contracts.

- The President of the ACRO technical committee; Laurie Colton, presented a proposal of a new competition format. Even years: team ECh. Odd years: junior and senior ECh with overall competition and an individual balance final and dynamic final. After some discussions the EC approved the principle. A test event will be organised in 2010. More complete information will be presented at the UEG Congress 2009.

- Budget 2009: the first draft budgets were presented.

- Danielle Duchoud has now reached the official age of retirement in Switzerland. After 15 years of activity within the UEG as head of press and then as UEG secretariat employee of 50% since 2006, this employment has now officially ended per 30.06.2008. However, on request of the PB, Danielle Duchoud will continue her tasks until the end of 2008 as well as some mandates in 2009, particularly in the domain of translations. A diploma of honour and flowers were handed over to her by the president and members of the EC.

Information/reports:

The president Dimitrios Dimitropoulos reports briefly on the latest council meeting of the FIG. The president is pleased to note that many Europeans present their candidacy to the FIG, whose election congress will be held in October in Helsinki. He announces with pleasure that the FIG has decided to increase the financial subsidy to the UEG to 150,000 USD (currently 100,000 USD). He is also satisfied with the financial situation of the UEG for the year 2008. However, he points out that a financially bearable solution must be found to replace the Swiss Timing "Scoring System" from which the UEG benefited thanks to a partnership with LONGINES. He also noted that the costs of the training camps have increased considerably and that the technical committees will have to take measures in order to slow down this explosion.

After the reports of the vice presidents Paul Garber (finances and administration), Georges Guelzec (sport related matters) and Andras Szabo (marketing-sponsoring), the technical presidents presented their reports on the recent European Championships MAG/WAG/TRA and RG as well as on the activities of their committees.

The next meeting of the presidential board and of the executive committee will take place beginning of October in Portugal.

Esto no lo acabo de entender bien: The competition format remains the same, with the integration of a competition for groups and individual wishing to try to get selected (1 single group and 8 individuals can qualify to represent Europe).